String trimmers have been available and in wide use for many years. It is particularly desirable for trimming along fences, buildings and on grass strips unreachable for the conventional lawnmower. It can also be used to trim borders along sidewalks and driveways and is even desired for cutting small lawns in total. Because the line is flexible, it can impact walls and shrubs with no or minimal damage and is far safer for the user than rigid blades as the cutting implement.
A common type of string trimmer is one where a housing is mounted to a power tool's drive line, a spool of line (string or cord) is contained in the housing and a feed mechanism inside the housing is actuated to feed the line from the housing as needed. As the line or string is used up it is necessary for the operator to disassemble the housing, remove the spool and parts associated therewith, wind a new supply of string on the spool and reassemble the components. It is an objective of the present invention to avoid the need for disassembly of the housing to re-supply the trimmer with cutting string.
Other areas of improvement for the preferred embodiment include the provision of a housing that is less susceptible to penetration from dirt and debris that can cause malfunction or damage, the ability to convert the feed mechanism between automatic and manual feed, and the reduction of vibration. The tool is also adaptable to drive lines regardless of direction of rotation.